Staff were over the moon when a world-famous guest arrived to take a tour of Rotherham’s Grade I listed mansion. It was a former NASA Astronaut, the first person to drive on the Moon.
David Scott was the commander of the three-strong Apollo 15 crew who went to the Moon in 1971. Now 91, he is one of America’s four surviving Moonwalkers.
What brought him into the stately home’s orbit all the way from Florida was his Rotherham-born wife, Mag Black Scott – and one of her favourite books, Black Diamonds. Mag – or Margaret Mulligan, as she was known growing up in East Herringthorpe – had brought David to visit her home town after an absence of nearly 60 years.
An American success story in her own right, Mag was keen to take David to Rotherham’s most historic places – including the Chapel on the Bridge and Rotherham Minster.
Mag’s Rotherham cousin, Andrea Douglas, had introduced her to Catherine Bailey’s best-selling book about the history of Wentworth Woodhouse and its owners, the Marquesses of Rockingham and the Earls Fitzwilliam. Andrea, also now living in Florida, once worked at Wentworth Woodhouse.
“I was in admin at the Lady Mabel College one summer in the 1970s,” said Andrea (formerly Parkinson).
“I come back to Rotherham every year, often visit Wentworth Woodhouse and am always telling people how wonderful it is. I persuaded Mag to read Black Diamonds, she loved it and gave it to David. That’s how the mansion’s amazing history came to the attention of an American astronaut!”
Andrea contacted the Preservation Trust now restoring the historic site to organise David and Mag’s visit. Guide Reg Nash, of Rawmarsh, gave them a private Wentworth Tour, which takes in the most architecturally important rooms on the Palladian East Front, where King George V and Queen Mary were entertained in 1912. He also showed them the soon to be regenerated Bedlam Wing, where bachelor guests and their manservants would stay.
Said Reg: “I didn’t know who my tour guests were until five minutes before they arrived. When I discovered he was the seventh man to walk on the Moon I felt totally in awe, but he was extremely modest about his career.”
Added Reg: “I was very curious about what brought him here and was astonished to discover his wife was from Rotherham. They were a very charming couple. They had read Black Diamonds, were keen to find out more about the house and were amazed by its scale and the grandeur of the Marble Saloon.”
David and Mag met with Sarah McLeod, the Trust’s CEO, to find out about work carried out at the mansion since the Trust bought it in 2017 for £7 million.
Sarah commented: “Because film and TV companies regularly choose us as a location, we have welcomed many famous people over the years. But we were literally over the moon when a former astronaut took one giant step into our Pillared Hall.
“David Scott is a hero, a living legend who has made a huge contribution to space science. We were honoured to meet him and his wife Mag, a former local girl who also has an astonishing and inspirational life story.”
Mag became a secretary after leaving Notre Dame in Sheffield – and at 19, her career took her to Libya – by accident! Mag had found a job vacancy in Tripoli, which she assumed was in Italy. She went along to the interview, discovered Tripoli was in Libya and accepted when offered the job.
She went on to marry marine contractor Murray Black and moved to America, where she developed an interest in the stock market and became one of the first female stockbrokers in Jacksonville, Florida. She rose through the ranks at global investment bank and wealth management firm, Morgan Stanley, retiring as chair of the Global Wealth Management division.
After the death of her first husband, she was introduced to David Scott at a dinner for Apollo astronauts and Soviet cosmonauts. Texan-born David was a fighter pilot before joining NASA and flying into space three times.
He was on the 1966 Gemini 8 space mission with Neil Armstrong, a mission of almost 11 hours which saw the duo successfully link two spacecraft together in Earth orbit – a milestone first.
In 1969, he was aboard Apollo 9, the third human space flight in NASA’s Apollo programme, a preparation for the first Moon landing.
In 1971 he flew with Alfred Worden and James Irwin on Apollo 15, the fourth Apollo programme to land on the Moon, and was the first man to drive the Lunar Roving vehicle on the Moon’s surface.
